06 Legislature Ends with Victories

This year’s NC General Assembly session has come to a close and we are happy to share with you several victories for the environment and public health!

The Budget – Overall Good News
Funding was provided for shellfish protection programs, private drinking water wells, public water supply systems, a state park expansion at Hickory Nut Gorge, restoration of funding for the pesticide disposal program, and full funding for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

Victories for the Environment
The first victory in the short session was the protection of groundwater quality for those relying on private drinking water wells.  Funding was secured in the budget for notification and well water testing for residents living near known contamination “hotspots.” Additionally, a bill to enforce new well construction standards statewide, (H2873) passed in the final days of session.

The second major victory came in the final hours of session, when the House agreed to pass the Senate-backed moratorium on new landfills (S353). This legislation puts a 1 year halt on permitting new mega-landfills giving the state time to study issues associated with mega-landfills being proposed in 6 eastern counties. The bill also calls for an environmental justice study to look at why landfills are being sited in low income minority communities.

The other major victory of the session was the passage of H1502, Schoolchildren’s Health Act. This bill, which reduces children's exposure to toxics in school, was held up last year by the arsenic treated wood industry (playground equipment can contain wood treated with arsenic.)

While the legislature passed up the timely opportunity to implement a strong package of energy efficiency incentives, they did take two positive steps in that direction. The first was passage of S402, Water/Utilities Savings in Government Facilities, which enables government buildings to finance energy efficiency measures with future energy cost savings. The second was passage of S2051, State Energy Use Planning/Energy Assistance. This bill, which started as a strong package of energy efficiency incentives called the Energy Independence Act, ended as a milder set of steps involving studying and planning for energy efficiency. While not the strong victory a broad coalition of groups was after, the bill plants the seed for stronger legislative action next year.

Several other initiatives did not move but were turned into studies, leaving the door open for action next year. A major community priority to pass authorization for the Land for Tomorrow bond referendum was not successful this year; instead the legislature authorized a study of the best ways to finance land conservation (S1122). Similarly, a proposal to include land managed for wildlife conservation in the lower tax rate present use value program was given the green light for a study (S1451), as was the "clean cars" program aimed at reducing vehicle emissions (H1723).

Bad Bills That Were Stopped
In the final half of the session, several damaging bills emerged, leaving advocates scrambling, but grassroots pressure succeeded in stopping three of the five bad bills!

The first, H1778/S1132, Risk-Based Environmental Remediation, would have lowered groundwater cleanup standards and enabled polluters to walk away from future liability by paying a small fee.  At the last minute, thanks to grassroots pressure, industry backed down. 

H2162, Land Disturbing Activities Near Trout Waters would have weakened protections for trout waters. It was stopped from coming to a House Environment committee vote thanks largely to grassroots pressure.

And finally, a provision sponsored by the billboard industry was defeated. The provision, added as an amendment to another bill (H1827), would have doubled the area of tree clearing in front of billboards and made the public foot the bill. Happily this bad provision was removed before the bill was passed.

While some of these bad bills are likely to come back next year, the fact that three of the five bad bills were stopped is a notable success!

Even though the 2006 session has ended, our work continues. As a community we will continue to hold our elected officials accountable for protecting public health, our environment, and existing environmental laws. To find out how your legislators voted during the 2006 session, please visit the NC General Assembly website.